Work Text:
One
William found himself in a box. A literal one, not a metaphorical one that would allow him to still move and breath. Here he was just minding his business hanging out at CatCo talking to Richard and the next thing he’s in this box. Well maybe Supergirl will come save him, or he’ll go back to CatCo or he’ll die and his life would be memorialized in a ⅛ page memorandum in the local newspaper back home.
William’s new life inside the box wasn’t so bad, he found he could breath, he didn’t feel that claustrophobic either which was good because he had no room in this thing. Maybe it was just some horrible dream, yeah that had to be it…
Voices, he could hear voices! Not a dream then, maybe an acid trip, had he ever taken acid? Well the voices are closer now, muffled still through the box, one man and one, maybe two women? They stopped talking as they moved closer to his box, oh god he had been kidnapped, drugged, and was now going to get killed or sold into the slave trade. A faint beep was the last thing William Dey heard.
He reappeared at CatCo later at night, looking around it seemed to be just him. Walking over to his desk William noticed a photo on it, oh, one of Lex Luthor it seemed, at some shady looking place. Of course, someone had left him evidence! He sat down and began to examine the photo but heard the ding of the elevator.
Kara walked into CatCo offices and walked straight over to William, “There you are, you were going to be at the expo but you weren’t!” She launched into a tirade about his absence, oh nice she likes him, William thought to himself as she went on. He nodded politely for a moment before remembering the photo, she needs to know about that. He wasn’t sure why he thought that but it came to him and he listened to the inner dialogue in his head.
“I found this evidence of Lex Luthor as Fort Harrison paying off security guards!” William provided the information readily. Kara was appreciative of the information and invited him to game night as a reward. Awesome new friends, I should probably try to be around Kara a lot, William thought to himself following her out of the office.
Two
“46% of trans people are verbally attacked and 9% have been physically assaulted just for being trans.” William said, the statistics coming out of him like a robotic assistant. He wasn’t sure he actually knew that information but a quick google search confirmed the stats. Huh, weird, but useful it was and now him and Kara could get back to writing their, ahem, his article.
After they finished Kara looked despondent, as if she were elsewhere in her head. “What’s wrong Kara?” William asked as he finished submitting his article.
Kara jumped a little at the audible intrusion, clearly deep in thought, “Oh just thinking about a friend...I think I have to go, yeah I have to go. Bye!” Kara stood up and rushed off. William waved goodbye and smiled a little, she probably had to go hug a trans person now knowing Kara, she was such a good person.
He shut down his computer and began to pack up for the day only to find himself standing with two cups of coffee in his hand outside, potentially days later. He saw Kara and her friends and went straight for her for help only to be overwhelmed with a sensation. “Here’s a coffee for you, just how you like it.” William offered Kara the cup, he has no idea what her usual order is, why would he know that. Where is he and what is happening?
Three
William moved through the building stealthily with Kelly. He had actually no clue who she was outside of that one game night encounter, they didn’t really talk that night at all, yet she was the first person he thought of when he wanted to investigate Lex and Obsidian further. Obviously going directly to an employee of the company and getting their help would be foolish, but William had a good feeling about Kelly.
He hadn’t experienced the box again for a few weeks, but there were still moments where he couldn’t remember where he was or what he was doing. He constantly found himself in places and situations with convenient information and purpose yet couldn’t remember gathering that information. His mind just works differently, William thought to himself as they moved closer to their goal.
Kelly had been rambling about Alex and her dead father, oh yeah William has information about that, “Kara already left for the funeral.” He doesn’t remember talking to Kara about this, but he knows it's true, he just feels it.
Kelly was saddened by the information, saying Alex refused to go, and William encouraged her to talk to Alex while he continued their, ahem, his investigation.
Job well done William, William thought to himself after discovering the baked potato looking pod people. Now just to write this all up and deliver the amazing expose to Andrea and he is in prime position for a promotion, or a raise. William turned to leave after sufficiently documenting the pod people and-
Four
“Lex Luthor has people trapped in VR!” He told Kara. Not sure why Kara needs to know this information or how he got to her apartment or who made these cookies but here he is. William doesn’t exactly remember leaving the pod people room or going back to his place or baking cookies or being at the Obsidian launch or really much of anything. The past several months have been a blur for William, yet he really felt like Kara needed this information so he offered it up willingly.
“Thanks Will.” Kara said emotionless as she took the cookies and dropped them on the table only to sit down and read her book some more. He followed her into the apartment, having more to say and she did not reject him, just more, ignored him.
“I was hoping you could help me….investigate?” William asked politely, he liked working with Kara, he always had the greatest epiphanies when she was around for some reason. He wasn’t sure if they were dating because they had that one date that felt more like a ‘Get to Know Your Lab Partner’ event at college and then nothing but at least they could be cordial.
Kara looked up distractedly, “Oh huh? Sure I guess.”
They went to investigate and William was struck with an overwhelming thought in his head, but there’s no way he could know this, he’s been with Kara and just Kara this whole time. He has to go and actually think about this before he regurgitates it but oh no he can’t stop himself, “Lena misses you.”
Kara gave him a look he can’t exactly describe, too many emotions on one face.
Five
He’d been in the box again, he can tell from the stiffness in his lower back. Whatever drugs they were giving him were starting to become less effective, he reasons, still not sure why he was being kidnapped, mind wiped, and placed in different scenarios all of the time. He had no one to turn to to explain this crazy behavior so he kept it to himself for now.
He found himself in LuthorCorp next, he can tell based on the signage everywhere, he’d been walking down the hallway toward an open door. He stopped briefly at the entrance wondering if he was walking himself into his box or if he was here to die, then he continued because it really felt like he needed to be here.
In the room was one miserable looking Lena Luthor, sitting at a desk in her lab, fiddling with her computer. “Hi.” William started as he approached the woman gently, “I am not exactly sure why I am here, but I feel like I need to be.”
Lena did not react kindly, no surprise there, “Who are you and how the hell did you get in here?” She stood suddenly looking for something to defend herself with. William put his hands in the air and stopped edging into the room.
“My name is William Dey and I am not sure how I got here. I just...it’s been a weird few months.” William said with his hands still in the air. Lena relaxed as she agreed it had been a weird few months and motioned that William can put his hands down. “I’ve found myself in places I don’t recall getting to, sometimes days pass, I wake up in this weird box sometimes, I am beginning to wonder if I am a robot.” William chuckled to himself but stopped as Lena widened her eyes.
Lena began to speak but William couldn't hear her, the thought running through his head was so strong and clear, he had no idea why he thought of it, but he was and it’s powerful and Lena looked really nice and like she tried to empathize and help William but he just needed to get this thought out or it’ll kill him. “You need to talk to Kara again, she wants to rebuild your relationship.” William blurted out over Lena’s monologue.
Suddenly, William found himself back in the box just as Lena gave him an incredulous look. He probably had the same look on his face as he vanished into thin air in front of her.
One
There was no way he’d be allowed out of the box now. He knew that last conversation was wrong, he knew he wasn’t supposed to say that but it felt true. Kara had only spoken about Lena to him a few times but each time he could tell she missed the youngest Luthor, he didn’t need to be programmed in a box to see that.
William deserved better than this, he thought to himself. He needed to get out of this damn box and talk to those girls and get some therapy and take a shower and a vacation. William tried moving his hands up but found it difficult, he could get barely the full length of his hand in front of his chest. Guess he’d have to Kill Bill it.
What felt like hours later, William managed to break himself out of the box and found himself unsurprisingly at Obsidian headquarters. With no time to waste, William left the scene of the crime to track down Lex Luthor and punch him, that was the first thing William really felt like doing even though Lex wasn't in charge of Obsidian, it just felt like this was all his fault.
Jogging down the hallway, William stopped when he heard voices, fearful it was the voices of the ones who kidnapped him he stopped jogging and pushed his body flat against the wall. He pulled out his phone quickly to voice record to catch any evidence.
“I am so sorry.” Kara said with a quivering voice, clearly holding back tears.
“No, I think I am the only one who has to be sorry right now Kara.” Lena said and although William couldn’t see them, he could hear the regret on her face. “You were right about Lex kidnapping all of these people in VR. Who knows what he did with Eve, and he is definitely mind controlling that reporter, William Dey.”
“Oh that explains it!” Kara said, realizing how odd it must have been for William to show up so conveniently at all of those places, always making his presence known, providing helpful tips. “He kept just showing up everywhere, knowing things he shouldn’t know. Lex really did rebuild the world to be his chess board.” William could hear the shuffling of feet and fabric, the girls were done talking for the moment. He paused the audio recording on his phone and hit delete, no one needed to hear that private conversation.
William pushed himself off of the wall and prepared to walk into the room with the girls to help them defeat Lex, he turned to face the open door and stopped dead in his tracks.
The women had been hugging for at least thirty seconds, maybe longer. A good, friendship rekindling hug, with full body chest to chest, hip to hip contact as female friends usually do. Lena had moved to pull away finally, her torso leaning back and her face in front of Kara’s when Kara whispered something William couldn’t hear before leaning in and capturing the other woman's lips with her own. Kara moved her arms from Lena’s back to her face, holding her there in the moment, Lena placed her hands on Kara’s as they continued the kiss.
For once, William found he had nothing to say so he quietly backed out of the room and let the women have their privacy.